Confusion Over Call Letters

TJ Q&A TOM JICHA Q&A

Bowled Over By Noise

Q. Please help me get Kathie Lee Gifford off the air. Regis would be better off without her. Everyone I speak to hates her. I don't blame Frank for what he did. - R.K.L., Fort Lauderdale

A. Kathie Lee is not a favorite of mine, either, but if you don't like her, don't watch. It works for me. You must speak to very few people because millions of viewers tune in to see her every day. If not, she would be gone. As for Frank, there is no excusing what he did. No matter what else Kathie Lee might be, she has been a loving, attentive - if righteous, holier than thou - mother to Frank's children and, by all indications, a loyal and faithful wife.

Q. I saw a movie on TV, The Professional, about a hit man, who protects an orphan girl in New York City. Is the girl the same actress who is the secretary in The Practice? - M.M., Boca Raton

A. There is a resemblance but they are different actresses. The co-star in The Professional was Marla Sokoloff. Natalie Portman plays Lucy Hatcher, the secretary on The Practice.

Q. I have lived in Fort Lauderdale for three years and I watch local TV mainly for the news. I know the channel numbers but I do not know all the station call letters. I get confused when you use only call letters in a story. I would appreciate it if you would use both. In your piece on the 50th anniversary of WTVJ-Ch. 6, I had to read three-quarters of the column before I knew the station you were writing about. - L.F., Fort Lauderdale

A. I have written hundreds of columns on local stations. Never have only call letters been used. In fact, 99 percent of the time, a station is described with both (for example, WTVJ-Ch. 6) in the first reference. It is Sun-Sentinel style. The 50th anniversary story was an exception because WTVJ, for most of its history, was Channel 4. It switched to Channel 6 a few years ago in a complicated business transaction. The anniversary piece was a column, not a news story. If I had bogged down the first paragraph with all the details about why Channel 4 is now Channel 6, I wouldn't have blamed a lot of readers for going no further. I use call letters more than channel numbers for another reason. There are a couple of dozen cable franchises in Broward and Palm Beach and stations are not in the same dial position on every system. What might be Channel 6 for you could be Channel 18 for someone else and Channel 31 for someone else. But WTVJ is WTVJ everywhere.

Q. What happened to Wendy Rutledge of WPEC-Ch. 12? She suddenly disappeared without any word on why. - J.M., Boca Raton

A. Wendy got out of TV to open her own medical marketing business, according to WPEC.

A. PBS is not supposed to be driven by ratings, just as the Supreme Court is not supposed to be influenced by politics. Of course, both are. The non-confrontational, thoughtful Washington Week in Review moderated by Bode was not drawing the audience that the verbal free-for-alls elsewhere on the dial do. By most accounts, PBS officials, coveting higher ratings, asked Bode to jazz up the show. To his credit, he refused and resigned.

Q. I enjoyed Politically Incorrect on WAMI-Ch. 69 even though it was moved around the schedule. Now it is gone. What happened? - Mo, via e-mail

A. You have to stay up to date with my daily columns. As I reported, Politically Incorrect is back on ABC affiliate WPLG-Ch. 10, where it belongs and at the time it belongs, 12:05 a.m., right after Nightline.

Q. I miss, and I'm certain others do, those great bowling commentators Chris Schenkel and Nelson Burton Jr. Bowling on cable is so noisy, it takes away from the game. Why is this allowed? - T.C., Tamarac

A. Are we talking about the same game? The one where you can walk into any lanes and hear people yelling, so that they can be heard over balls crashing into pins, "If you're going up, bring me back a beer, too?" Even the shirts are loud.